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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 25 april 2018

Seeking aid abroad, Lebanon uproots Syrian refugees

PHILIP ISSA are afraid they will be ar-
Associated Press rested when they return, on
BEIRUT (AP) — Three years charges of fleeing military
ago, Ahmad Mohsin was conscription.
forced to relocate his Meanwhile, Lebanese poli-
campsite in Lebanon’s ticians say their country
Bekaa Valley after soldiers has been strained under
raided the community of the weight of the refugees,
Syrian refugees where he who together with a Pales-
lived and smashed their tinian refugee population
belongings. The message of 175,000, make up rough-
was clear, he said: they ly one fifth of the country’s
were not wanted. population — the highest
On Tuesday, Mohsin, 39, portion in the world.
was preparing to break Foreign Minister Gebran
down his camp again, af- Bassil, who leads President
ter an order came from the Michel Aoun’s Free Patri-
security services to move otic Movement party and
once more. is the president’s son-in-
Even as donor nations raise law, said in January it was
money for Syria’s neigh- time for refugees to return
bors to host refugees of home.
the country’s civil war, a This Monday, April 23, 2018 photo, Syrian refugee children play outside their family tents at a It is a common refrain
leading international rights Syrian refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias, in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. among the country’s Chris-
group and the U.N.’s refu- Associated Press tian politicians, who are
gee agency say Leba- not believe Syria was safe peat now, things that really evicted from their camps playing on fears in Leba-
nese authorities are evict- enough for returnees. (The bothered us.” and homes in the Bekaa non that the overwhelm-
ing refugees from towns refugees said on Lebanese They moved to their pres- Valley in 2017. It said close ingly Muslim Syrian refugee
and camps in the coun- media they were returning ent site, just a few hundred to sixty percent of the evic- population is a threat to
try on questionable legal voluntarily.) meters (yards) away, and tions were ordered by the Lebanon’s national iden-
grounds. In Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa along the same dirt road military intelligence. Anoth- tity.
Mohsin, from Syria’s third Valley, the Army can des- now deemed off-limits. er 30 percent were ordered Meanwhile, local officials
largest city Homs, said on ignate areas as military A local business owner who by local officials. in Lebanon are throwing
the second order to move zones and close them off is developing a private Ziad El Sayegh, an adviser Syrians out of their towns
he went to a local official to campsites. park along the same road to the Lebanese minister of in a violation of their rights
to ask for help. Their boundaries are rarely said he was aware the refugee affairs, said new as refugees and residents,
“He said, go back to Syria,” clear and appear to shift area was designated as a campgrounds were found said Human Rights Watch.
said Mohsin. Neither the lo- without notice. ‘military zone’ but said he for the refugees evicted The rights group said it was
cal official nor the military Mohsin said he was in- didn’t expect any restric- from around Riyaq air base. a worrying trend, at the
could be reached for com- formed by military intelli- tions on his venture. “In fact the army under- time of an international do-
ment. gence that his campsite sits Omar Elmais said he hoped took to protect these refu- nors’ summit in Belgium to
Human Rights Watch said on a “military corridor.” The to pave the road and light gees, like it protects the support Lebanon and other
it documented evictions in camp is approximately 8 ki- it along the way to his park, Lebanese people,” he told countries neighboring Syria.
13 towns and villages put- lometers (5 miles) from the which he said would in- The Associated Press. Local officials in several mu-
ting more than 3,600 Syrians Riyaq air base linked to the clude a pond and an en- There are nearly a million nicipalities ordered Syrians
on the streets since 2016. It Christmas evictions. tertainment area. Syrian refugees living in out en masse, posting evic-
said the Lebanese Army In 2015, soldiers raided Ibrahim Samaha, the own- Lebanon, according to the tion notices on their doors,
uprooted another 7,500 ref- the camp in its old loca- er of the land where Moh- U.N., and an estimated 70 and sometimes sending the
ugees near a military base tion looking for Mohsin, the sin’s community keeps percent of them live in pov- police to physically intimi-
around Christmas 2017. camp’s foreman, and an- camp, said he received erty. date the refugees if they
Meanwhile, the country’s nounced they wanted the the necessary permits to Though President Bashar did not comply, said Hu-
General Security appa- tents moved immediately. let the Syrians move to an- Assad in neighboring Syria man Rights Watch.
ratus, which handles bor- Afraid, Mohsin denied his other spot of land away appears to have put down The evictions did not ap-
der security, arranged for own identity. from the road. He also con- the revolt against him, the pear to have the formal
500 refugees in the She- “The soldiers went through firmed that the military had U.N. and rights groups say support of the national
baa farms area to return the homes, beating down uprooted the community in the country is still not safe government, nor any legal
to their villages in western the doors, breaking things,” 2015. for refugee return. basis. Human Rights Watch
Syria, one week ago. The he said. “Then he started According to the U.N.’s The country has suffered called on national authori-
U.N. did not participate in saying things to us, things refugee agency, UNHCR, catastrophic damage, ties to step in and stop the
the operation, saying it did I don’t know how to re- 1,300 Syrian families were and many men say they evictions.q